Afterhours
by domino.dice
Summary: A series of vignettes on Reno and Rufus' relationship. Rated for mm activities and swearing no doubt. Ch.4... six months after the Diamond WEAPON. Ch.5... seeing things
1. Prelude: Of Musing

oOo

A/N- This will be the only chapter where the notes come first. I decided to revamp this a bit, and I'm thinking of retitling it because "waiting For Dawn' was just a title I pulled out of my ass. Also upping the rating due to future chapters, and adding little quote things at the beginning. They're all from VAST songs, and I want at least one line from every one of his songs, so you know this will be going for a while. After the quote I'm saying what song it's from instead of who said it, because the same person said them all.   
Some of these chapters come from a separate canon than the rest, but I'll specify which ones do. They're not going to be in chronological order, though there will be 2-3 chapter arcs that are. FF7 isn't mine. Tom McKenna, Alden Telder, Nate Banning and Joan Masterson are. And I like boys.

With other boys.

Consider yourself warned.

oOo

**Prelude: Of Musing**

There was nothing for it, he couldn't work anymore. Rufus frowned as he set down his pen and stared at the half finished performance review. It was difficult to be objective about this one; he never found anything difficult to be objective about. This was elusive, but at least he knew how much it was. Before, this abstract invasion on his sense of detachment irritated him to no end, and he denied it vehemently. He wasn't sure what changed, but it made him smile as he shut the folder on the pen No, he knew he couldn't complete this review. The simplest solution would be to drop it into Tseng's inbox.

Wincing at the crack as he stood, though it didn't really hurt, he fussed idly with the slight disorder on his desk. Normally he could work for days at a time, stopping only long enough to reorganize his desk. His current record was over two hundred hours straight. The Turk head made him swear never to do it again after he passed out at the two-hundred-thirty-five mark during a board meeting. Insomnia was less of a problem now; he had a reason to go to bed.

File deposited. The chain of command was a beautiful thing.

At the elevator, he pulled out a card and key on a short chain, the card emblazoned with the metallic number "80" and waited. There were only two of these cards, and only one key. The eightieth floor was inaccessible from anything else. The plain metal key opened the elevator doors when it finally reached the pass card destination, and he was prompted for a pass. Leaning forward to the small embedded mic, he uttered his access code, gingerly, subtly touching the 4 and 8 buttons. These were the only two that scanned his fingerprints. Touching any other key while the security system performed this operation would give him, or anyone who tried, a considerable shock.

The doors slid open silently without issue, as always. The only door at the end of a short hall had no lock; after so many levels of security to get to this point, anything else would be pointless.

Keeping quiet, he took a quick shower- another change from before, when his showers tended to turn into lengthy endeavours. However, he paused when finished, standing before the clear mirror over warm counters. Though months had passed since his cure, he still marvelled at his clear skin, pale, almost silver fingers resting against the warmer hues of the marble surface. In his imagination he could trace where the stigma had tracked mercilessly over him. Very occasionally, he would check to see if it had come back.

He covered himself with a white satin robe and stepped lightly through his flat to the bedroom which had been his and his alone for years... now shared with another, though he didn't mind. Far from it in fact.

He was much more careful, conscious of every step as he came up to the bedside. Just because he'd been working late, he didn't need to wake the other, or there'd be a raucous almost every night. He beheld the form on the bed before him; he wouldn't be considering bed or sleep now were it not for this person...

He let the robe slide from his shoulders and gather at his feet, leaving him bare in the darkness at the foot of the bed. He stood a moment, feeling no shame or vanity listening to the soft sighs of his love. This wasn't anything he could have done before, and certainly not appreciate. Too abstract in his world of tact... though it wasn't so much so anymore. Like a scent on the breeze it found it's way into every part of his life, there when he denied it, when he took it in, always. It was choosing to see that it was there that had nearly destroyed him in the past... but time healed all wounds, it seemed.

In his practiced way, he slipped between the sheets, disturbing the mattress almost not at all and slid his arms around the one he loved.


	2. The Sleepless Count

oOo

_I've never known you, and I never will  
What difference does, indifference takes._  
- The Nile's Edge

oOo

**The Sleepless Count**

Reno sighed as he stopped in front of the president's office. Confrontations like this one would be were never good times. The recent change in administration would only prove to be an even better excuse for Rufus to stay in the office. Quite frankly, Reno was getting a little tired of these discussions. Rufus was too hot and cold, virtually ignoring him some days, jealous of anyone Reno looked at on others. Not that there seemed to be much between them except the physical part of the relationship. And the business part, too, but that went without saying.

Did libido have anything to do with his attitude? Reno knew for a fact that his own affected the way he thought about Rufus, so it was entirely possible. He wondered if Reno was the only person he played this game with, or if there were a number of people under the payroll that Rufus deemed 'special' on particular days.

'It's really not that hard, just put the pen down, pass the folder to your secretary and go to bed.' Reno didn't feel like knocking.

'I'm fine, thanks. I slept last year.' Rufus didn't feel like looking up.

Reno paused and peered at a stopwatch by a pencil tin. 'You're timing yourself?' Incredulously, he picked it up to look at the numbers properly. 'One-hundred thirty-two hours, forty minutes and six seconds.' He said flatly upon seeing the readout. 'That's like... last week?'

'Last year.' Rufus said with a smile.

'New Years'... very clever.' There were a number of possibilities; he could knock him out, either chemically or physically. He could just stare stubbornly at him until he gave in, though that never worked. Best chance was to screw him until he was too tired to decide that work was still possible.

'I thought so,' his superior said without looking up. 'Why are you so concerned about my sleeping habits? I'll pass out before I die of sleep deprivation. I need to be diseased to die of insomnia. Abbreviated, FSI. Fatal sporadic insomnia. Prions, whatever they are. I don't need to be hypochondriac, Tseng does it all for me. It's not even in his contract.'

Reno scoffed and dropped the stopwatch back onto Rufus' desk. He was rather unimpressed at the show of strength, or endurance, or whatever this was. 'I have no idea what you're trying to prove, but I don't really feel like seeing you die.'

Rufus glanced up. 'I told you. I'll pass out before I--'

Reno, with a quick, well-practiced movement, flicked out his mag-rod, locked it into the extended position and brought it down before Rufus with a clang, bare millimetres from his hand.. With his other hand he snatched the pen out of his boss' hand and touched the side of it to his neck, feeling his pulse along its length.

Even his blink came only after an obvious delay. 'I assume you're trying to prove that I'm more vulnerable when sleep-deprived?'

'That's my point exactly.' Reno's eyes never left Rufus', his mag-rod hummed with electric power bare millimetres from his superiors hand.

Rufus shifted, looking back down to the folder Reno half-sat on. He took back his pen carefully. 'That's what you're for. You happen to be the fastest Turk under my employment, and there are a good number of other Turks as well. Prime directive is to watch my ass. It's in the contract.'

Reno was in no mood for pulling at the threads of innuendo at the so-called prime directive. 'And if we're not there?'

'No such thing has occurred, nor will it.' Rufus said, straight-faced.

'And President Shinra Senior? We didn't exactly stand around and watch.'

'He wasn't exactly sleep-deprived. Should Sephiroth choose to come after me, there will be nothing you can do. If I sleep, it would just mean that I lost time out of my life by being unconscious before I died.' Rufus carefully pulled Reno's thumb from the mag-rod activation switch, and the humming faded.

'That's retarded.' Reno said rather snappishly. 'We could keep you from Sephiroth no problem. Your dad's problem was that he sat out in the open, sat at his desk stupidly as alarms went off around him.'

'And I haven't done that?' There was that faint, hard tone, generally reserved for mentions of his father. Usually he sounded firm and no-nonsense. Rarely did that tip into anger. 'I stand my ground, run things smoothly as long as possible. I expect you to protect me.'

'And that all falls apart if I'm not there!'

'It hasn't happened, and it won't.' Now he sounded more clearly irritated.

'It has happened! When AVALANCHE jumped you on the rooftop, you were alone.'

'Then your information is wrong. There was a helec--'

'The chopper could do _nothing_. All they could do was wait for you to break away from Cloud, or die. You know it, I know it, Cloud knew it, in a one-on-one fight to the finish with him, you would _die_.'

'Your enormous faith fills me with warmth.' Came the terse, scorned reply.

'Do you want to be defenseless? Because right now you are. I could kill you before you thought about reaching for your gun.'

'Again, you're assuming I haven't already.' Cold blue eyes were narrowed as Reno's hand more than subconsciously slipped to take hold of Rufus' shirt. 'I know you, Reno. You dropped the plate on Sector 7 without hesitation, you chase the poor out of their shabby homes without guilt, but you wouldn't do a thing to me. I have fear on my side. It's not exactly the fear I expect from everyone else, but fear all the same. You're afraid of hurting me, of seeing me be hurt, which is why I never will be.' Eyes, tone and grip eased in tandem and silence fell.

'Just... hypothetically.' Reno said at length. 'If I weren't around, what would you do if you were attacked?'

'Then I suppose I'd die wishing you were here.' The answer surprised Reno. He expected him to mention some other Turk, or that someone else would come to his rescue, but the statement made it seem that his life and his faith rested solely on the slim shoulders of the redhead.

'What about the others? They can't save you?'

'I thought it was a hypothetical situation. You didn't say anything about anyone else being there, so I assumed that it was either you or no one.'

'And how true is that in real life...?'

Rufus considered, took a sip of coffee that Reno suddenly became aware of and leaned back in his chair. 'You all do your jobs as best you can. The system's flawless, contingencies within contingencies. If you weren't there, in real life, someone else would be. Simple as that.' He selected a different couloured pen. 'You have nothing to worry about, though it's interesting that you're more concerned for my safety than I am, considering I'm rather selfish.'

Reno sniffed indecisively and leaned on the desk with his back to his boss. 'Are you too selfish to worry about your protectors?'

The reply came without hesitation. 'It's your job, it's what I pay you to do. You and I both know the risks of our respective positions, and accept them. That's why you're more worried about me than I am, and why I'm more worried about you than you are.'

It was so matter-of-fact that Reno almost missed the actual answer to his question. Reno was frequently sent out on dangerous missions, knowing the risks, and they really seemed trivial to him most of the time. They seemed trivial to Rufus, just by the way he dispatched orders alone.

'Why should I be the source of uncertainty? The top of the ladder is the worst place for things to start falling from. The feeling's mutual. Just come back alive and there's no problem, okay?'

Reno nodded. This was going better than most of their other disputes. They rarely ended without doors slamming. 'G'night, boss.'

'Goodnight, Reno.'

Reno smiled to himself. Being more than a convenience was definitely an encouraging thought. Though it wasn't until he was in the elevator going down that he realized that Rufus had snuck his way out of bedtime yet again, bending the argument away from sleep. Reno smiled and shook his head. That was some determination. Maybe he'd check back in a few hours. If he was still up, then he'd definitely enjoy tiring him out.


	3. Apocalypse Please

oOo

_There's no angels here, just the sun to light the way.  
_- Lost

oOo

**Apocalypse Please**

All he could do was stare as ashes fell. Burning paper fluttered like autumn leaves, glass still falling from the initial recoil. There wasn't light but for the building which had always towered above the rest of the city, though now it was several stories shorter, and accented the horizon much stronger than usual, burning as though intentionally set ablaze as a signal fire. Here is where Midgar stands, soon to fall... save us...

He was running despite the hands on him. There was no way in hell they were going to stop him, time was of the essence.

'Reno! Reno, come back, you can't fly that thing up there!' Rude took chase, knowing full well where he was going, and watching him b-line for the helicopter completed the thought. A quick glance at the building told Rude that the seventy-third floor wasn't even there anymore. Survivors would be far too much to hope for... there was nowhere stable to land... so he made sure to get to the pilot's seat first. Reno gave him a glare before jumping in the passenger side, Elena closely following. Whether or not they were going to land... they were going up all the same.

From the air, things were different, but no better. The chopper was far from silent, but the eerie feeling thick on the air seemed to dull the sound.

The mako cannon still stood, spanning over the darkened city whose life it consumed. The badlands seemed more inhabitable than Midgar as fallout from Diamond drifted over the city on its own wind, removed from the breeze that they felt.

'Reno you're going to have to jump... there's no way I'll be able to land this. I can get close enough though.'

The redhead nodded silently, watching their approach to the skeletal building intensely. There had to be some way... maybe the president hadn't been in his office at all. He could have given the order to fire from anywhere in the building. The flames died quickly, everything flammable being incinerated ravenously, casting a haunting glow over the city which provided no real light.

'Get ready--' Rude paused, interrupted as Elena was surprisingly first to jump. She seemed like a little nervous wreck most of the time, but determination had risen in her in this time of need, though Rude didn't know her motivation. Reno was shortly after, and once both had cleared the gap, Rude pulled away to prevent the drafts from disturbing the remnants of the building.

There was silence once the chopper was gone from sight. 'I think a flashlight would be useful.' Reno muttered quietly. He heard his heart hammering away, rushing through his ears in the darkness that pressed around them. Standing there in the ruined building, he still couldn't fully believe what had happened... it seemed so far-fetched, too science fiction in spite of everything he'd seen and done throughout the course of his Turk career.

'Hang on, I have one in my bag...' Though she was feet from him, he could barely see her outline as she rummaged through a small pack she happened to grab before everything spun into this insanity. Rookies were always more cautious, tended to over think everything... and brought things that they probably wouldn't need because there was a small chance that they could. Reno had long since outgrew that habit, but was thankful that Elena hadn't just yet.

'There.' She clicked it on and Reno blinked at the light and jumped as Elena shrieked and dropped it.

Reno turned quickly, flinching slightly at the crack as the flashlight hit the ground and echoed through the hollowed floor. It flickered a moment then kept shining.

Elena whimpered and knelt to grab for the light. When it rose from the floor again, the beam was shaky as it roved, then paused on an odd shape in the dust.

Half a blackened skull.

'It's not him, it's not him...' he muttered reassuringly, easing the light from her hands. The words were for his own vanity; she didn't silently weep because she believed she knew who the shattered bones belonged to.

Reno turned the light, and Elena away from the sight and continued along what was left of the corridor. He couldn't tell what floor this was; objects from levels above had fallen when the floor beneath them seared away, so each level was a medley of everything that had been above it. Armored siding from the outside wall in some places had sliced through walls horizontally, cutting rooms in two so cleanly that it seemed the rooms were made for people half their height. In other cases, it split rooms and hallways strangely as if an abstract painter had tried his hand at architecture.

With Reno in control of the flashlight, if he saw something that might be the remains of another unfortunate soul, he turned it away. The building was too ruined to tell for certain when they'd descended to the next level lower, all of them somehow blended into a downward spiral. Reno's heart skipped several beats when he saw a section of wall that indicated they were on level 70; Rufus' office.

The flashlight beam flicked from side to side, the normally immaculate office was littered with enough debris to turn it into a shoulder-height obstacle course of sharp edges and sparking circuits.

'Rufus!' His voice didn't echo before being swallowed up in the twisted mess before him. 'Come on, you're in here somewhere. Come ON!' Reno kicked at some crumbling drywall. Faintly he heard Elena calling into the darkness somewhere beside him.

Logically, he knew there was no chance anyone would have survived above the fiftieth floor. The fumes and smoke rising from everything still burning below was making his head spin, and it was probably seriously unhealthy, but they were going to recover Rufus now, no matter what his condition was.

Vaguely he recalled a conversation they'd had not too long after Rufus took his father's place, about what would happen if the Turks weren't there for him... well, it seemed that this was the disastrous aftermath. Word of Tseng's death affected the young man more profoundly than anyone realized, though those closer to him had more of an idea than the others. He had wanted to be alone. He had wanted to strike a serious blow at Sephiroth. He had wanted to defend his city from the rampaging WEAPONs that didn't seem to be protecting the planet at all. Not even Reno imagined that he could to all at once with a single, perfectly timed command to fire. He could see him in his mind, standing in front of the window and seeing Diamond's return volley. He wondered what his last thoughts might have been...

...no, not last. He would have more, they would find him alive in this mess. If he'd been at the window... Reno placed himself in the general area where the young president might have stood. Ballistics stated he would have...

Reno turned right around, turning his back on the remnants of the window, tracing his eye along the floor, a line straight forward from where he stood. Half a short-circuiting computer console, twisted filing cabinet spilling still-glowing embers, then there was a large scrape in the floor, worsening until a hole was gouged into it and the level below could be seen. Blank metal. Another section of outer armor from the building lodged through the wall and had gouged out the section of floor. Reno scoffed. Some good that did, useless armor.

A flash of colour.

There was blue in midst of black and white and grey. A small section of tile floor that peeked out from under the sheet of armored metal was astoundingly unsinged. Reno quite literally stopped breathing as he scanned the edges around the thing. The edges were blackened, but here and there he'd see faint indications of the colours the room used to be. He followed the edge all the way to the hole in the floor where something dark dripped slowly from the lowest point.

He shoved aside the sparking console and skirted the hole, dropping to his knees quickly to peer under the sheet of metal. It was like looking into an aquarium; a whole little aquatic environment, absurd, out of place, but perfectly stable. The floor underneath was virtually unmarked, though there was rubbish scattered that the sheet had taken with it when it was blasted back. It was a tight fit; a computer monitor- screen broken, but otherwise intact; the floor pattern could be made out; clean, white unburned papers were crumpled in corners and underneath things; an overturned mug spilled coffee which dripped down the metal.

No, the mug was clean, and the coffee was the wrong colour.

'Elena! Elena, get over here... here!' He gasped. Whether it was the smoke, or the discovery, or the fact that he really hadn't taken a breath since seeing clear floor that caused it, he wasn't sure. The rookie vaulted several blackened, unidentifiable objects and knelt beside him. Reno promptly handed her the flashlight and pushed his way under. It was smaller than it looked, and he exhaled so he could worm his way in further. He almost cried aloud when he pushed aside the broken screen and was met with a pair of feet.

Squirming quickly backwards, he tried to issue a command to the junior Turk, but when it came out as a wheeze, he decided it was better left unsaid anyhow. He dashed around the gaping hole in the floor to see if it was easier to get in from the other side, the whole time with Elena was on his heels, making certain she was never in his way, and the light was always where it was needed. They were silent as they pulled what they could out from under the sheet, being careful not to touch anything that might be supporting it and as soon as there was room, Reno crawled back under on his stomach. It was slightly easier from that side and tremors overtook him at the first sight of blond.

'Rufus...'

Somehow, he'd been miraculously saved... Reno had little in the way of spirituality, but he thanked whatever hand guided this to shield him. Were things slightly different... if Rufus had been three inches to one side, if there hadn't been a desk behind him... it would have crushed him instead. Trembling fingers touched the ashen skin, stiller than Reno ever wanted to see it. There was breath there, but not for much longer if they did nothing but cry with relief. Kicking more debris out from under the metal sheet, he cleared a space around the fragile form. A jagged edge of the sheet had sliced into his side, and he was bleeding heavily. The only touch of colour in his face was his blue-hued lips, and an angry gash just above his temple. What was broken, what was damaged? One arm was twisted strangely, but other than that, there wasn't anything outwardly obvious.

He needed to move him, but he couldn't. There was no way he could be careful enough with the way his hands were shaking. He and Elena didn't have the strength between them to move the metal plating, so they'd have to move Rufus himself... He was in an isolated world in that moment, there was nothing else but himself and this pale, fading thing before him.

'Hey Rufus...' Reno had no idea how upset he would have been if he'd found him dead, but he could only stare numbly, few coherent thoughts crossing his mind. Would he have lost it completely if they had found him lifeless? He was frozen... He wanted to touch him, to hold him to tend his wounds... but he knew he didn't know the first thing about healing, and the last thing he would do on a good day was hurt him. He was far too precious for that.

'Stay with me, okay...?' Whether it was his imagination, or if it actually happened, he saw those eyes open just a fraction, as though in acknowledgement. If eyes were a window to the soul... then they were broken and his soul was falling...

He eased him off of the metal's sharp edge and quickly placed his coat over the wound. The whole time he kept himself as close to the shattered form as he could, keeping him warm knowing that he was too weak to shiver, and shielding his failing spirit from drifting away. By the time Reno had freed him, Elena had cleared a space on the floor to lay him.

He barely heard Elena make the urgent radio call for the medics, and held his pale hand in his own when they were finally lifted away.


	4. Two Hundred Days

oOo__

Sleep without a dream, cold as it seems  
It's my destiny  
- Dirty Hole

oOo  
**  
Two Hundred Days**

It was six months until he saw those eyes again. Six months of 'any day', six months of 'maybe never'. It took Elena and Rude both hounding to get him to eat, but nothing could make him leave that room. Tseng hardly spoke to him at all these days, partly blaming him for the fall of what remained of ShinRa after the Diamond WEAPON. Without Rufus, the rest of the company tore itself apart, Reno knew. Tseng knew, everyone knew that there was nothing that could have been done about it.

So the most loyal of employees, those who remained under the payroll not for the money or because of fear, soon let the ailing company fall to the dogs and turned their attentions to the recovery of the young man that seemed as doomed as his corporation.

'The longer he takes to wake up, the less likely it is he will.'

Those were the gently spoken words of Rufus' personal physician, the man who had overlooked every single one of his injuries, had practically placed every band-aid since his childhood. He had actually been the choice of Rufus' mother; Adrian Collins, a friend of a friend.

'But he's healed.' Reno felt like he'd had this argument a dozen times in the last week alone.

'Bones are mended, wounds are stitched, but some injuries can't be healed with materia and needle. His entire system has gone through serious shock. The lifestream upheaval also needs to be factored in... and even if he didn't suffer a head wound, if he wakes up he may never be the same again.'

'Right. If.' Reno scoffed, his eyes never leaving the screen of jagged lines that pretended to tell him what Rufus dreamed.

'Do you believe that you can cure him?'

Reno looked over, then regretted it. He had _those_ eyes. The eyes of a SOLDIER. Even though he had quit long ago, the strange mako glow still lingered, and meeting the eyes of the SOLDIER-medic-turned-GP gave Reno chills. He didn't want to think about what could have been going through Dr. Collins' mind when Jenova issued her summon, so he turned back to the EEG readout. 'I just don't believe that you can't do anything.'

'Well...' Collins paused before taking a step closer to the bed, and the place where Reno sat. 'Some people believe that the comatose can hear things... some even think that they're aware on the subconscious level, and the readouts that indicate dreaming are actually attempts to interact subconsciously with the world around them.'

'In English, please.' Reno said flatly.

'Talk to him, hold his hand... though I'm sure you've been doing these things, but don't just mutter like you're talking to yourself, talk to _him_. You're stepping so lightly around him as if you're afraid to wake him, but we're hoping for the opposite.' Bright green eyes flicked to the door and back, and a faint smile touched the doctor's lips. 'Some people even think that the right stimulation can stir someone from a coma.'

Reno was adamant about not looking at the doctor right then. 'Pretend I have no idea what you're talking about.'

'I am Rufus' physician. As such I have to keep matters between us confidential. He's spoken openly with me in the past, and I know that you two are involved. I wasn't sure just how involved until he asked me to test him for VDs.'

Though there was nothing in his mouth, Reno choked. He made an attempt to speak after a moment, but the attempt failed. After a minor coughing fit, he fell silent.

'He was rather nonchalant about it, and kudos to him for that. However, I won't make you any more uncomfortable than I already have. While I still try to maintain hope for your sake, from a medical perspective, we should have let him go two weeks ago.'

Reno's head snapped up. 'You won't touch him until _I_ decide when to let him go.'

Collins nodded silently and turned from the room, closing the door behind him when he left.

Reno sighed.

Rufus slept.

Monitors chimed.

'So I'm supposed to talk to you, huh...? Among other things.' Reno took the hand closest to him, rubbing idly with his thumb. 'I really don't know what to say, but I'm going to talk anyway, so this is going to end up being the most random thing you've ever heard.' He had no idea why he felt suddenly nervous. He was being put on the spot, and felt like he needed to perform flawlessly, even though his only audience wasn't even conscious to see it.

'Okay... so this is going to be strange, having a conversation with myself. More like a monologue, really, though I'm surprised I remembered that word.Maybe I should read to you? I don't even know what you like to read though, and I don't have much patience for reading anything more than a page. Maybe I should read off the business section of the...' Reno stopped himself. Newspapers had ceased production due to lack of resources. Instead there were leaflets and informative booklets, though where they came from no one knew, and whether or not the information could be trusted was equally as dubious. '...of the non-existent newspaper. God, Rufus we need you back... you got things done, you were the man. You were the hero... not Cloud. Yeah, he did away with Sephiroth, yeah he fought against us and our mako consumption, which was somehow what the people wanted, but he didn't understand things like you.'

A quick glance at the monitors told him nothing had changed, though he lacked the perception to notice how the lines had changed on the EEG readout; Rufus was listening...

'You were doing what was best for the world. If all the mako generators were destroyed, like AVALANCHE wanted, then we'd all be left without power, without heat... it would be chaos worse than this. You took out _two_ of the WEAPONS. You were left to govern a teetering empire that your bastard father had all but destroyed, and you kept it together. You kept Midgar running, you _knew_ what needed to be done, and you _did_ it. Quite simply... you were what made Shinra the best thing to happen to the world in ages. We need you now more than ever... and as stupid as it sounds, I need you.'

Reno swallowed as he watched the still face. He turned in his seat and lay beside Rufus on the mattress. 'We don't exactly get along that well, and mostly when we're alone together I jump you, or you jump me, and there's not really anything beyond that, but if that was the only thing I liked about you... then I should just be saying que sera sera and go back to Rude, or find someone else to roll with in the hay. I don't know what it is about you... because it's certainly not the money or the power... though looks are just, well, wow. But it's more than that, I tell you. I know all we seem to do is screw around... but if you wanted, I'd be just fine with just sitting around, or watching a movie or something... Maybe you're worried that I wouldn't go for something tame, maybe you think all I want is to screw around. Or maybe that's really all you want... either way, one of us is a masochist.'

Reaching out, he touched the sallow skin. Being fed intravenously for six months... and half-starving himself for weeks before the WEAPON incident, left him a slip of a man, made smaller by the size of the bed, and the insane amounts of sheets surrounding him. He had to be down to ninety pounds, soaking wet. 'I'm sort of thinking it's you, but I don't know for sure... maybe it's me for sitting here waiting for you to wake up though you never will... not that I don't think you will, because you will. I'm not even making much sense to myself anymore, but this doesn't seem to be working at all.' Reno paused and thought a moment of the other thing Collins had suggested.

'But did your doctor say what I thought your doctor said? He'd really suggest something like that?' It had to be a joke... but the man was a doctor, and Reno had never known the practitioner to lie or lead anyone on, especially when it came to his patients health. Jumping his bones seemed like a strange solution, though.'This is going to be weird... but I guess I'm starting to get desperate.'

Reno got up and made sure the door was locked. Fortunately they had managed to get a private room. In the chaos that followed the WEAPON attack, there had been a great deal of casualties but Rufus managed to keep priority. He came back to the bed and stood at the foot of it. Respirator. A-V lines. Electrode leads. Reno eased carefully onto the bed, straddling the blonde's legs, but being careful not to touch him too much. He was healed for the most part, but he wasn't awake to say if something hurt.

How would he do this without disturbing all the equipment? _Well duh_, his mind told him. _It's actually a really simple answer_...

Reno slid off the bed to the side. He glared at the bed-prone figure, more out of frustration with himself than anything else. If he did it, he'd feel like a sicko. If it worked, then, well, there'd really be no problem. But if it didn't, he'd have to just live with it, and know that it was the last thing he did with Rufus before he died.

Not that he'd die.

'If you woke up now, I wouldn't have to decide whether or not I've got to give you a blow job while you sleep.' Reno sighed. There had to be something else he could try before moving to extreme measures. He'd do it in a second, if he were actually awake, because then permission could be given, or at least acknowledgement, and overall it would feel less illegal. 'Someone put grease into your IV, you're getting pure fat!' He cried suddenly. 'The nurse is chewing on a pen she borrowed from you! Someone wore shoes to bed in the room across from us! The custodian spits on the floor! OH MY GOD, TSENG'S WEARING A HAWAIIAN SHIRT!'

He paused. There was no change. Well, if Rufus really could hear him even in a coma, maybe it wasn't kind things he should be saying, but things that would tick him off enough to wake him up. 'Heideggar sure is fiiine. I'd hit that like the angry fist of god. There would be mag rods involved, I'm sure. And maybe Reeve. Or your secretary. And stationary no doubt. Lots of stationary. Secretaries come with danishes and tang, right? So there'd have to be some of that there, and we'd all be standing and peeing in your pool back at Costa Del Sol. Or sitting in your secretary's case. You know, whatever floats her boat. Or maybe all of us should get together and try to wake you up the way Dr Coillins suggested, either one at a time or all at once depending on space, but this room's pretty big, and you're a small person, I'm sure we'd all fit around you. Please wake up and shut me the hell up.'

'...Reno... shut the hell up...'

Startled into silence, Reno stared as pale blue eyes fluttered open and attempted to focus on their surroundings. It worked...? Why did it work now of all times? Why didn't it work six months ago? 'You stupid jerk!' Reno found himself saying, and certainly not without a large degree of annoyance.

Those eyes turned to Reno's.

He wasn't sure why, but now this irritation rose up in him, as though Rufus had some nerve, just lying there for so long. 'What the hell were you thinking? You just had to pull some fancy stunt, be Mr Self-Sacrifice. While you get to be cozy here in your room, the world's going all to hell. Tseng couldn't hold it up himself with all the vultures in every layer that were just waiting all along for you to fall like your father. It's over.'

The word that the bed-ridden blond chose to repeat was not quite what Reno expected given his current state. 'Tseng...?'

All at once, Reno settled. Yes, he didn't know Tseng had actually survived the encounter with Sephiroth. He didn't know the current state of the world, didn't even know how long he was out. 'Yeah...' Reno suddenly felt at a bit of a loss. 'He made it okay after all.'

'The cannon worked?' He sounded as though he were muttering in his sleep.

'Yeah, it worked just fine.' Rufus gave a little nod and his eyes slid shut again. 'I'm going to get a nurse or something. Try to stay awake.' He rose, but Rufus had at some point seized his sleeve.

'Talk to me...' he said quietly. He meandered a tired hand to the nurse button on the bed, not yet letting Reno go with the other. He didn't elaborate and his eyes were still closed, but he seemed to be awake.

'About what...?' Reno asked as he settled.

'Whatever you were saying before. Just... whatever comes to mind.'

Reno looked at him rather startled. 'You heard all that?'

'I heard you speaking. I didn't know what you were saying.' He still sounded half in a daze, but managed to speak clearly. It was easy enough to understand; it took a while to wake up when you've been sleeping six months.

Reno was privately very relieved that he couldn't actually be understood during his ramble. 'I was just trying to wake you up.'

'Guess it worked...'

'Unless something strange happened while I was at your bedside and suddenly I'm with you in Comaville. But probably not.' He paused. What was there to say? He supposed he should inform him on everything that had happened while he was out, but not until he was feeling better. No point in burdening the burdened.

But inevitably... 'What happened?'

Reno made his answer as quick and uninformative as possible. 'Diamond WEAPON returned fire.'

'Did we lose anyone important...? In the attack?'

_Almost,_ Reno thought. _We almost lost the most important person_... He chose to say nothing.

'No one we can't replace, I'm sure. Summon whoever's left... keep minutes and give them to me so I can-'

'No, Rufus. The WEAPON ended it. The company's been torn apart. Like I said, Tseng couldn't keep it all together once you were out for the counting. Things are really different, you don't un-'

'I don't understand? Then explain so I might know.' His eyes and voice were clearer. Reno knew he was definitely better, otherwise he wouldn't be able to stare at him quite like that.

'It's been six months without you at ShinRa's helm. Six months without ShinRa keeping things in check.' Reno watched it sink in, knowing that Rufus would know better than anyone what the results of that would be, possibly even better than Reno who had lived it.

There was a pause that stretched into a silence...

Then, with his usual calm, Rufus said, 'I'll let you know when it's over,' and pressed the nurse button.

Reno knew there would be nothing he could say that would turn his mind onto something else. He couldn't even bother to tell him to take it easy, because Reno could see he knew better than to push himself just yet. Rufus knew how to play his cards. By the time the nurse came in, Reno could only smile and shake his head. He almost didn't believe himself- that morning he was barely able to drag himself out of the waiting room chair, knowing that there'd be yet another day of watching and waiting as yet more hope slipped away.

Now there was no doubt in his mind that order would come from this chaos, and that it wouldn't take that long either. Rufus had an 'overnight policy' that he had mentioned on a number of occasions, and though Reno didn't know the exact terms of it, he could see the pattern. Rufus implemented this overnight policy and whatever he applied it to got done before the end of the next day. While rebuilding the world would be a fair bit more difficult, Rufus had a tendency of making things look simple enough for a child to pull off.

Reno took his leave as the nurse continued about, paging the doctor and sounding astonished. Reno didn't think she was trying very hard, she wasn't very convincing.

Still smiling, he sat back down in the waiting room with a worn magazine. He couldn't wait to see the leaflets tomorrow.

oOo

A/N

This chapter would have been up sooner, but has been weird about letting me upload for the last few days.

This got 500 hits between 10:30 and 10:50 MST on Saturday June 10th.. If you read my story at this time, contact me and you can request a chapter all to yourself It doesn't even need to be Reno/Rufus I suppose. If I get too many people who claim to have gotten me my 500th hit, then the deal is off, just so that there's no confusion.

I really wanted the last scene to go like this:

Reno: ...it's over.  
Rufus: It's not over until the fat lady sings!  



End file.
